local leader named Sonni Ali

Following the breakup of Mali a local leader named Sonni Ali (1464–1492) founded the Songhai Empire in the region of middle Nigerand the western Sudan and took control of the trans-Saharan trade.nhl cheap jerseys Sonni Ali seized Timbuktu in 1468 and Jenne in 1473, building his regime on trade revenues and the cooperation of Muslim merchants. His successor Askia Mohammad I (1493–1528) made Islam the official religion, built mosques, and brought Muslim scholars, including al-Maghili (d.1504), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim scholarship, to Gao.[37] By the 11th century some Hausa states – such as Kano, jigawa,Katsina, and Gobir – had developed into walled towns engaging in trade,nba jerseys servicing caravans, and the manufacture of goods. Until the 15th century these small states were on the periphery of the major Sudanic empires of the era, paying tribute to Songhai to the west and Kanem-Borno to the east.
Imperial rule by Europeans would continue until after the conclusion of World War II, when almost all remaining colonial territories gradually obtained formal independence.Independence movements in Africa gained momentum following World War II, which left the major European powers weakened. In 1951,ed hardy bikini, Libya, a former Italian colony, gained independence. In 1956, Tunisiaand Morocco won their independence from France.[46] Ghana followed suit the next year (March 1957)[47], becoming the first of the sub-Saharan colonies to be freed. ed hardy hoody Most of the rest of the continent became independent over the next decade.
Portugal's overseas presence in Sub-Saharan Africa (most notably in Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and S?o Tomé and Príncipe) lasted from the 16th century to 1975, after the Estado Novo regime was overthrown in a military coup in Lisbon. Zimbabwe won its independence from the United Kingdom in 1980 after a bitter guerrilla war between black nationalists and the white minority Rhodesian government of Ian Smith. Although South Africa was one of the first African countries to gain independence,cartier watche the state remained under the control of the country's white minority through a system of racial segregation known as apartheid until 1994.
Cold War conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as the policies of the International Monetary Fund, also played a role in instability. When a country became independent for the first time, it was often expected to align with one of the two superpowers. Many countries in Northern Africa received Soviet military aid, while many in Central and Southern Africa were supported by the United States, France or both. The 1970s saw an escalation, as newly independentAngola and Mozambique aligned themselves with the Soviet Union,rolex watches cheap and the West and South Africa sought to contain Soviet influence by funding insurgency movements. There was a major famine in Ethiopia, when hundreds of thousands of people starved. Some claimed that Marxist/Soviet policies made the situation worse.[48][49][50]